2014 Story 123
From the May, 2014 issue of Lightspeed Magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams:
123. THE BA OF PHALLOON by Matthew Hughes I'm on record consistently over the past year in this community as not being the greatest fan of Hughes' Erm Kaslo stories being serialized in Lightspeed. My opinion has improved somewhat now that the storyline has moved forward into the universal change from rational (science) to sympathetic (magic) and the stories are feeling less conflicted about what they want to be. Erm Kaslo is still a magic-less character trying to survive in a world that is now operating on magic principles, and this story furthers his acclimation. While Kaslo has been trying to keep things normal for the people under his master Diomedes Obron's "protection," other forces are allying against them. Kaslo finds himself in yet another hard spot complicated by his unfamiliarity with the new order. I actually started to feel a bit of sympathy for the main character.
123. THE BA OF PHALLOON by Matthew Hughes I'm on record consistently over the past year in this community as not being the greatest fan of Hughes' Erm Kaslo stories being serialized in Lightspeed. My opinion has improved somewhat now that the storyline has moved forward into the universal change from rational (science) to sympathetic (magic) and the stories are feeling less conflicted about what they want to be. Erm Kaslo is still a magic-less character trying to survive in a world that is now operating on magic principles, and this story furthers his acclimation. While Kaslo has been trying to keep things normal for the people under his master Diomedes Obron's "protection," other forces are allying against them. Kaslo finds himself in yet another hard spot complicated by his unfamiliarity with the new order. I actually started to feel a bit of sympathy for the main character.